What to do when no one believes in you

This is a very common situation that one encounters: you are up for promotion at workplace, you have worked really hard in the last 6 months, and you are sure this time you will get the desired recognition, a pay hike and a jump to the higher level in the organization. The day comes and you are still rated average, there is little return and the same old increment that all others have anticipated. What happens next?

You lose your confidence and self-respect. Morever, that flame of self-belief dims too. There is a possibility that at this moment even your family is skeptical of your capabilities, as they witness your batchmates and childhood friends climbing the ladder of success where you are still struggling to make ends meet.

This is one of those moments where one could be at his/her lowest.

If not addressed delicately and with caution, the person in question may lose it all and never regain the confidence he/she once had.
What to do when no one believes in you, except you? Is there a way out? Fortunately, there is

One: Pull yourself together; this is not the end of the world. It takes a lot of strength to stand for one’s own self when no one trusts your capabilities. And to trust oneself, one needs to be calm and in the right frame of mind.

Two: Analyze-what went wrong? Once you are in the right frame of mind, you would be in a position to think openly and pinpoint the reasons behind the downfall, in this case: your performance review. It is likely that you will be able to analyze what could have been done to have a better assessment.

It could be possible that you are unaware of your core competencies. I would like to quote here the words by Albert Einstein “Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid”. It is possible that you need to re-focus your goals and priorities towards your real proficiency.

Three: Make small goals and move towards the final point. We sometimes fail a few times and then lose the confidence to move further even though we believe in something very strongly. When we make smaller goals, they seem realizable and once those start shaping up, things start falling in place.

Four: Keep looking back……Well you must be thinking the last step should have been NO LOOKING BACK??? I believe otherwise. One needs to keep looking back and evaluate one’s actions in the past to make sure the same mistakes are not getting committed repeatedly which could create speed-bumps towards the road to success.
I also believe that thesesteps are not just applicable to people in the corporate world: all of us arein certain situations where we are not believed upon and we are constantly questioned on our capabilities and are pulled down by the common myths and practices. There is a working woman who isn’t considered to be a good mother because she is not at home tending to her kids but is managing a team at office. There is also someone who is struggling to lose weight and get those pounds off but is mocked upon by others for not being so good looking. To sum it up, each of us have been in this situation and we have come out of it no matter what. Self-belief is something that makes a little child leave his parents’ hand and move ahead to start walking. He knows he could fall, but he also knows he can do it. So can us!!!